James Sheppard
James Vincent Michael Sheppard is a main character from the Eagle Legion series. He has appeared in all five books of the series, namely A Valiant Beginning, The Rise, The Road Ahead, Redemption and Revolution. One of the main characters in the series and leader of the Joint Coalition Task Force, he has earned the nickname of "Ad Infinitum", "The True Immortal" and "Vesuvius". He also attained the nickname of "Sonitus Vir" as a means of relaying several encoded messages without the knowledge of an enemy knowing it. Early Life James Sheppard was born on the year of 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts to a very wealthy and powerful clan in the United States of America that have dedicated themselves in the benefit of America's rise to power and prominence. His parents, Howard Steve Sheppard and Marie Victoria Sheppard, are a hardworking and loving couple to James. Despite the busy schedule, they would always find time to keep James occupied during his infant years. James would then become a fast learner, learning how to read, write and speak at the age of 2. Upon turning 5 years old, he would then learn science, mathematics and politics at a fast rate. James would speak 15 different languages including Russian, Swahili, Spanish, Filipino, Portugese and French at the age of 9 and would do this perfectly. When the parents would see James' incredible feats of abilities, they would be so impressed that his parents would give him basic and advanced training in the world of martial arts, free-running and weapons. By the time he reached the age of 11, he has perfected the aspects his family had offered him. Howard would later on tell his son about their origins and why their name is considered to be an extremely prominent one: they belong to the most powerful clan in all of United States where their super-conglomerate, Sheppard-Takahashi Megacorporation Incorporated has attained massive worldwide fame and that he has been groomed to be the next heir of the corporation. James would later on accept the offer, though he was given the blessing to live a normal life as well. He would complete his high school years at the age of 13 and enter in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world's most prestigious universities. College Years During James' freshman year, he met his best friend and future lieutenant, Yasujiro Takahashi and they became inseparable from that point on. They would go on and punish several college bullies that stood in their way and would retain most of their ideas inside their dorm room. On the 2nd year of his college life, he, along with Yasujiro and the current ShepTak C.E.O., Mark Sheppard, have made a significant and large contribution not only to the corporation, but to the world by making their quadrillion dollar mark with a renewable energy gathered following the installation of solar panels that align and move in Earth’s orbital plane but at an axial tilt, imitating a perpetual summer solstice, which became the first successfully industrialized space mission of Sheppard-Takahashi Megacorporation Incorporated where they receive funding from a trio of major venture capital firms. Upon James entering in his third year, the trio effectively ended global warming by generating a localized synthetic atmosphere above the polar ice cap using a precursor to the atmospheric processor of James and Yasujiro's invention. Upon doing this, Mark, Yasujiro and James have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal respectively for their highest contribution made for the benefit of human kind, the latter two became the only two students and the youngest people in the world to create an impact that will leave a mark in MIT. Their achievements, however, wouldn't be complete without a pint of controversy to follow. During an international school festival inside MIT, in which Japan is the host country, the Japanese-American duo would encounter five guys who have raped two Japanese exchange students and they would later wipe them off with relative ease: the first three were severely injured while the other two would end up parapledgic. Because of their actions, they were summoned to the court the following week and were told to explain of their actions. With the assistance of the two girls that were raped, however, and their incredible intelligence, they would escape further punishment and send the five guys responsible into expulsion for their actions and were charged for rape, battery and assault. The two would go on to graduate as a summa cum laude tandem and become valedictorians to finish in the Top 10. Becoming "Ad Infinitum" James and Yasujiro would earn their respective spots in Sheppard-Takahashi: James being an executive head in the main division while Yasujiro would enter in the head director's division in 2020. During this time, James would go all over the world with Yasujiro and make the help successful as ever. He would also go in Japan to assist the ShepTak Japan branch in their time of need. During his stay there, he then caught a presence of two young female Japanese princesses who would soon later become his love interest few years later. While James becomes a prospect in the business world, he is also the primary crusader of justice since he felt that innocent people are a prime target in such involvements. One particular incident involves the two princesses on the verge of getting gang-raped by five men and James, clad in Assassin-like outfit, managed to overpower the five men with relative ease before having a small chat with them and running off. Since then, he then made a personal mission for himself: save the whole human race from anything that tries to destroy the balance. After the incident, he was then approached by a man clad in military fatigues who later introduced himself as Reginald James Aleksandersson, the man who became a hero in the IJSF-Order War. He told James that he was overly impressed in his skills in rescuing the two girls, but he felt that further improvements must be made. Without hesitation, James accepted the offer and went to train with him while keeping a busy schedule in the corporate business world and would later meet his future comrade-in-arms, Kenneth Tabberrah-Aleksandersson. In the span of 2 years, James would be groomed to follow the exact example of how a soldier and a warrior should be made: to follow the path of right and be steadfast in every situation. He would view Reginald as his father figure, mentor and pen pals along with Kenneth and become sparring mates whenever they want to physically sweat it out. The World's Youngest-ever Career Officer James was then enlisted as a member of the Joint Task Force in the year 2022, under the guidance of Raven and Erwin Rickenbacker to be the next generation of fighters in bringing peace and stability to the world after he was bestowed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Before he left, he was given a special project that he needed to enhance his abilities secretly. The first phase of the project completed with the second phase placed on hold. During this time, James has displayed proper ability to control his aircraft and become a well-mannered soldier and business associate while the fight between the World nationalist Liberation Front goes on. He would later on meet a squadron consisting of female aces where they identified themselves as “Vixen”. Though he successfully waned off the aces during their mission, he caught an eye of one female fighter piloting an ATD-X Shinshin aircraft, supplied by the WNLF-backed Corporation: Bearstag Industries. Because of the competition that Bearstag displayed during the JTF-WNLF War, the Sheppard-Takahashi would become the subject of a Global Corporate War with Bearstag as the two corporations are bent on destroying one another for complete supremacy. While he displayed an intense tenacity and discipline during the frontlines, he would also become a gentle person and would care for the people around them. Upon learning the location of one of their captured comrades, Jericho Wilyan, the JTF was sent to rescue their captured comrade while dealing another enemy from the WNLF. In an unexpected fashion, the Vixen Squadron, with only three members left, have decided to do the gallant thing and defect to the JTF during the mission run. Though Raven and Rina Safitri where initially reluctant at first and decided to gun all three of them down because the former two have had it, James and Erwin were lucky enough to spare them after several minutes of heated conversations on the radio. James was able to eliminate the head guard preventing Jericho from escaping and was also able to talk it out to Raven Rickenbacker in the hopes of sparing the defecting Vixen Squadron rather than eliminating them, thus proving that James has the power of forgiveness to the enemy squadron. James would later fall for one of the Vixen Squadron members, Unohana no Sakuyahime (Unohana Hime for short) and would become a couple during the long run. The Vixen was then renamed into Syren Squadron in which they became full-time JTF loyalists. On one mission, Raven, Reginald, Sul, Ven and Karl, the original Valiants would seemingly be killed in action by a man named Alexander Harvard, the man who spearheads the World Nationalist Liberation Front alongside Dulcimer. James was enraged by the proceedings and with Adrian Lynch taking over, he was then told to learn compassion to the enemy that Raven and the original Valiants have given them. Later on, his cousin Gabriel Francis Sheppard would then run for Presidency alongside his mentor’s wife, Denise Tabberrah-Aleksandersson, as his running partner for Vice-Presidency and James was in complete support for his cousin and Denise at the time upon Reginald’s and Raven’s supposed death months after. Though they’ve lost, James would still remain loyal to his cousin in the later run because of his true intent of bringing freedom and stability to the world. By this time, his corporation was nearly in the brink of losing and despite the support of Yasujiro’s brother, Reivun Takahashi, Sheppard-Takahashi would go on to take more beatings from Bearstag until the liberation in New York would turn the tides in favor to the JTF and Sheppard-Takahashi at the 3rd quarter of 2022. His cousin and Denise would go on to be elected as President and Vice-President respectively. James was then promoted to General in the JTF ranks after the New York liberation and became embroiled in the command post while keeping a busy post in the Sheppard-Takahashi ranks. Eventually, he would find solace with Hime as his guide and would train along with her in order to improve her skills and make time to find some moments for one another, though they chose to conserve themselves before marriage. Later on, Reginald and Raven would emerge and assist the JTF in their ongoing war against the WNLF and for many times, they would succeed in various missions. However, during their sortie in Paris while fending off the WNLF attack, another enemy would seemingly emerge from the ashes and reveals itself as the organization primarily responsible for Harvard’s rise to power and his hatred against the Americans: The Enlightenment. Upon learning of this, the JTF were somewhat bewildered and then went on to make amends to their former enemies. The following week after the incident, the two organizations would then form the Joint Coalition Task Force, a full collaboration between the Joint Task Force and the WNLF to combat the new threats from The Enlightenment. Raven, Reginald, James and Alex Harvard were in the proceedings that day. During the ceremony, Dulcimer (real name Frederick DeLaney) returns alive from captivity and tells them that one man rescued him from getting killed: Roman Rickenbacker, Raven’s father. Roman’s body was sealed in the casket and thus fueled their fire for vengeance against The Enlightenment, sooner revealed to be led by a man they thought was dead: Erich Steele and his associates. Within the last quarter of 2022, Candle Megacorporation later reveals itself as the primary arms manufacturer and as a means of controlling the world populace via psyops. To combat the threat, the Sheppard-Takahashi and Bearstag Industries have finally settled their long issues and have decided to call a merger. With James spearheading ShepTak and DeLaney controlling Bearstag respectively, the two met in Africa where they called a meeting to take place with the JCTF personnel in attendance. With the merger becoming a success on the 1st of February 2023, the two corporations formed a new name to bring the JCTF back to the height of the battle: Imprint Technologies Megacorporation Incorporated. By this time, James and Delaney became business partners and, by extension, brothers-in-arms. James has since been promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and became an active officer on both sides as a corporate executive and a military officer.